48

 Since they started (Dec. 2014), Whispers have been organized around some saying or quotation. For two reasons, I think I will change that now and then. One, I am running out of my classroom stock of ‘Words of the Week’ and, two, every once in a while I just want to say something that’s on my mind. This Whisper #48 is an instance.

Many of us live in a world of “Let’s Pretend.” Think about it. Think of how much time you spend watching a movie or YouTube or a TV program. Now I do not know how to measure what is happening, but when your mind is full of pictures, your imagination is not doing much. When there is a picture on your mental screen, you do not have to create anything on your own. It seems to me that that is a loss.

Further, think of what those pictures are too often, especially for young minds, minds that are being shaped for the years to come. Think of the effect on a young mind of gazing all through the formative years on monsters, horror scenes, bloody crimes, constant sexual stimulation or outright pornography, and all kinds of deceptive advertising.

All in all, our pretend world is—there is no other word—a bad world, and no one knows what to do.